Battiston, Sr. et. al. disclosed a foldable walker with plunger actuated latch assembly in their U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,002, including a locking assembly, having a spring biased reciprocating latch, a plunger attached to the latch, and a catch plate adapted to releasably engage the latch, which is mounted on a pair of gate legs and a cross brace adjacent the extremities of the legs, to be adapted for releasably locking the gate legs in an open position with respect to the cross brace. However, such a conventional foldable walker has the following defects:
1. Since the latch (2) is always retained by a spring positioned thereunder, when it is intended to fold the side gate legs toward the front cross brace, one hand of an user must depress the plunger (4) to disengage the catch (6) from the latch (2) and the other hand of the user should hold the gate legs and rotate the same for their collapsible operation, to thereby cause inconvenience especially for disabled patient.
2. When extending the gate legs for walking aid, the side leg is rotated around the axis of the sleeve (14) to allow the catch (6) to engage with the latch (2) for locking the legs, whereby the inclined mouth (46) of the catch (6) must be able to slide over the beveled surfaces of cam (26) of the latch (2) and will bear a strong resilient force against the spring (34) positioned under the latch (2) which seems to be a heavy burden for a weak patient subject to an ambulatory training.
3. After folding the side legs with the front brace to be a compact unit, the catch plates (6) will be protruded outwardly to possibly impede the environmental objects and also influence the homogeneous appearance of the walker.
The present inventor has found these defects of such a conventional walker and invented the present seesawly-controlled foldable walker.